Kentucky cities and counties are getting payouts from nationwide settlements with companies accused of fueling America’s opioid crisis. They’re supposed to report how they’re spending the money to the state, but last year the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting found compliance with the rules has been scattershot.
The state’s opioid commission just set up a new process for local governments to provide details on their spending. And it plans to make the data easily accessible to Kentuckians. I talked with the commission's chair, Christopher Evans, about those changes and how they're keeping the public in mind.
This transcript is edited for length and clarity.
Morgan Watkins: You lead the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission, which is empowered to monitor how city and county governments spend their shares of the opioid settlement money. The commission just launched a new system to accomplish that. What's changing?
Christopher Evans: Well, a few key things are changing, Morgan. First of all, we're moving from a quarterly to an annual term in terms of a reporting process. Second, we're going to be having more detailed reporting on the use of funds. And then third, we're also now able to utilize our website to access the reporting process. This will give us better data collection and a better process and understanding in how to be more efficient in collecting and using the data.
MW: So last fall, the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting found that most cities and counties were not filing the necessary spending reports under the state’s old settlement monitoring rules. Was that problem a reason why the commission changed the reporting process, and what other reasons were there?
CE: Well, we've been working on this process since the AG [Attorney General Russell Coleman] took office. I mean, I like to remind people always that this is blood money, and of those families who have suffered from the scourge of the drug crisis, they deserve to know how these one-time resources are being spent reasonably. And so we want to make sure, again, that everything we do remembers and honors those families. And so being able to improve our processes is something you should expect to see from us, always. We will continually strive to get better in the work that we do, and changing and updating the reporting process is part of that. So that's really the genesis behind this, is trying to make sure that we are delivering the best services as possible to the people of the commonwealth.
MW: Cities and counties have to report how they spent their settlement funds over the past fiscal year by August 31. After that, the state opioid commission says it will post the spending details on an online dashboard. What information will people be able to see?
CE: Well, it's a two-step process – I want to make sure to point out clearly. The first step is this change that we've had to be able to collect the data and to be able to pull that in. The next phase – which is going to take some time, a little bit, to build out also – is going to be that dashboard for reporting. But what people will be able to see and what they should understand that we're collecting is going to be:
- If counties and cities had funds.
- If they spent the funds: Where did the funds go to? How were they supposed to be used?
- And to make sure we have a clear trail of where the money went from the beginning of the county's time to have it to where it was disbursed, so that people are able to understand what that looks like.
And what you will eventually see is this: On our dashboard, on our new, updated website, people will be able to go there and identify their county and see what has been reported in terms of the use of the local funds. So again, for the clearance and transparency of the work that's taking place, it will be a one-stop-shop where people can find that information.
MW: Why did the commission decide to do that? To start making the spending information easily accessible to the public?
CE: Well, again, as part of the process improvements that we've continually committed to make, we wanted to make sure that:
- One, that there was transparency and people were clear on where the money was going. So we wanted to make sure of that.
- Two, what's really important is for us to be strategic in how we utilize the commission funds. And understanding how local funds are being spent is a big driver to help us understand what we can support and how we support things.
We always want to be more strategic in the way that we utilize this money. Again, we recognize where the money comes from, the pain that was caused for the commonwealth to receive the money, and we want to really be strategic and smart with how we use the money. And this will help us be better in doing that.
MW: Thanks for your time.
CE: Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
